It’s finally Thanksgiving Week of 2009; a chance to take my nose out of my books. I’ve neglected this site, yet again.

If you haven’t heard from me in a while, it’s probably because of my full-time load as a MA candidate in Economics at San Francisco State. It might not be the big leagues quite yet, but it’s graduate study, and it’s been quite a ride so far. I know I was a good student in undergrad–still, the start of graduate-level economic theory and methods ain’t no joke. I never thought all my calculus, engineering, and computer science coursework from 10 years ago (that never amounted to a major; another story, another time) would come in handy in economics. It’s been a steep learning curve, but I feel I’ve disciplined myself into a studying routine that’s working this semester. Well, almost working…I’m confident about three of my classes, but feeling questionable about my fourth.

So, if you’re reading this page, and if you are considering studying Economics (or something related) at the graduate level, some advice:

• Take a FULL calculus sequence. Not the business calculus courses either. Take Calculus I–II–III with the science and engineering kids. It may feel like the stages of hell getting through it, but you’ll be set.
• Take MORE mathematics. You wince, my youngling, but it will ease the pain of further graduate study. Linear algebra, probability theory and statistics, differential equations, proof, real analysis…they’ve been recommended to me by other students.
• Use your professor’s office hours. USE THEM! Like your life depends on it. (In a sense, it does!)
• Work with your comrades-in-arms in all your classes. Don’t work alone all the time. Everyone thinks about problems differently; having multiple avenues of attack on a problem helps immensely.
• Make time for some relaxing activities, because all the Latin and Greek-letter variables will make your head spin. I actually enjoy math, and it makes MY head hurt.

References: UC Berkeley’s Economics PhD applicant page

A few math resources to help you in your journey, wherever it may lead:

• Wolfram MathWorld (math reference site)
• Wolfram Alpha (“computational knowledge engine”)
• Khan Academy (YouTube tutorial videos for free!)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Back to the front line next week.

I just read through the whole Stuff White People Like list, and I have to say, I’m quite white. I’m impressed. Below is a complete tally of items from the list that I also like. Enjoy. (You’ll have to do a lot of the cross-references on your own.)

Now for the list! (ahem)

128, 127, 126, 125, 124, 122, 119, 117, 116, 115, 114, 109, 107, 104, 102, 94, 93, 92, 91, 89, 88, 87, 86, 84, 83, 82, 81, 80, 78, 72, 69, 68, 64, 58, 55, 53, 50, 48, 46, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 36, 35, 34, 26, 25, 24, 23, 20, 19, 18, 14, 13, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Highlighted above are items I EXTREMELY like.

68 out of 129. Over half. Mixed-race it is, then!

My recent trip to Japan was, in my 3+ decades of life, one of the most exciting, eye-opening, exhausting, and enjoyable experiences that I’ve had. I’ll use my short time here to post a link to my picture gallery site (gallery.me.com/palapid) as well as some useful links that I used in my trip planning, to help any of you in a future sojourn to Nippon.

• Japan Railways (JR) Group (www.japanrail.com):
  Most convenient way to get around Japan, especially if you plan a Tokyo to Kyoto trip or farther via the shinkansen (bullet train). Make sure to get your JR pass for unlimited travel before arriving in Japan!
• K’s House – Backpackers Hostel (http://www.kshouse.jp/index_e.html):
  My main lodging in all the areas I visited: Tokyo, Kyoto, Mt. Fuji, and Hiroshima! Bilingual, super-clean, and über-friendly. Met plenty of fellow foreign travelers as well as Nihon-jin (Japanese) at each location.
• Hostelworld.com:
  Just in case K’s House is booked up.
• Welcome Inn Reservation Center (http://www.itcj.jp/eng/index.php):
  Another lodging reservation site with a variety of different lodging options, from hostels to ryokan (traditional inns) to Western-style hotels.
• Sankei Travel – San Francisco (http://english.sankeisanfrancisco.com):
  The local travel agency I purchased my JR Pass voucher from before leaving for Japan. Although they primarily work with Japanese customers, they have a variety of travel services for visitors to Japan.
• Find!TOKYO iPhone/iPod touch app (http://www.enfour.com/iphone/apps/gm/findtokyo.html):
  My survival app to get around Tokyo without lugging a ton of subway maps with me. (I think I still had my Lonely Planet books weighing me down.)

August is here, along with the last summer trips, BBQs, and beach bonfires. Then, at least for me, it’s back to school to start my graduate-level economics classes at SF State. Already bought 3 classes of books, which set me back over 4 c-bills…but that’s a small price to pay for knowledge, and the knowledge of commanding a higher salary. I hope.

Just took a trip to the Southland last week; a 1700-mile romp through the LA Basin with a side excursion to Sin City. I even got to enjoy clam chowder at Pismo and a short campus visit of UC Santa Cruz (my alma mater)

Now I’m in Japan trip prep mode; got travel books, history books, literature, gear, moisture-wicking clothes and so on. One more week and I’ll be off!

(NOTE: I got this list from a former student of mine. I will add the various US territories to it as well. Edited for own purposes.)

“Put an X by the states you have been to. The average is 8; how do you match up?

Should you choose to play, here’s what you do:

Copy my note. Click on “notes” under tabs on your profile page. Select “write a new note” in the top right corner. Paste the copy in the body of the note. Delete my states and add your own. Change the number at the top, and add your title.

Just for fun, put an O beside the states where you have lived.

Simply being in airports doesn’t count!”

Alabama -
Alaska – X
Arizona – X
Arkansas -
California – XO
Colorado – X
Connecticut – X
Delaware -
Florida – X
Georgia -
Hawaii – X
Idaho – X
Illinois – X
Indiana – X (drove through)
Iowa -
Kansas – X (drove through)
Kentucky -
Louisiana -
Maine -
Maryland – XO
Massachusetts – X
Michigan – X
Minnesota -
Mississippi -
Missouri – X
Montana – X
Nebraska -
Nevada – X
New Hampshire -
New Jersey – X
New Mexico -
New York – X
North Carolina – XO
North Dakota -
Ohio – X (drove through)
Oklahoma -
Oregon – X
Pennsylvania – X
Rhode Island -
South Carolina -
South Dakota -
Tennessee-
Texas – X
Utah – X
Vermont -
Virginia – XO
Washington – X
West Virginia -
Wisconsin -
Wyoming – X
Washington, DC – X

Now, for good measure:
American Samoa -
Guam -
Puerto Rico – X
U.S Virgin Islands – X

And for better measure:
Armed Forces Europe -
Armed Forces Pacific – X (okinawa)
Iraq – X
Afghanistan -
Elsewhere in CENTCOM – X (kuwait)

I’m looking into changing up the style of this site, modifying the widgets, and so on. Let’s see…

Happy birthday Julius, my brother. You are dearly missed. Thank you for gracing us with your presence, your energy, and your positivity during your time here on Earth. Brotherhood is indeed eternal.

After all my investing and personal finance reading over the past decade, I can sum it up to some basics that’ll work for 90% of us. Here goes.

• Live within your means. “In”come must be more than expenses in the long run.
• Pay off credit card debt ASAP. Paying off a 15% card is better than saving in a 2% account.
• Save up at least 6 months of spending in an emergency fund. Keep in a conservative savings or money-market account.
• Find the lowest-cost investment accounts (Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, and a few others).
• Index, index, index. 50% stock, 50% bond. Let simmer until you pull Medicare.
• Stop reading all the investing tips elsewhere and go find a Haruki Murakami novel to lay back and relax with.

Hit me back with any other ideas or comments. Simplicity is bliss.

There’s been this “25 random things about me” post rotating on Facebook Notes recently. While I will post out to the people who tagged me, I decided to publicize mine here as well. I usually don’t do chain forwards, but this one actually seemed fun to do. Here goes.

25. I believe everyone has (or should have) an internal soundtrack. Mine is co-produced my J Dilla and the RZA, with a smattering of 70s sounds, particularly Issac Hayes and Teddy Pendergrass. And of course, there’s the Hans Zimmer overture.

24. Social liberal/leftist, economic centrist/pragmatist, and believer in international co-operation, while keeping a big stick behind you…in the form of a carrier strike battle group with Marine Expeditionary Unit support.

23. My number one source of news: the BBC World Service. My number two: The Daily Show.

22. I see much of my life split by one divider: December 27, 2001. Events in my life happened to me either before my dad’s passing, or after it.

21. At one point, our house had 4 Macs in it (5 if you count the inactive one) and 2 iPhones. Talk about a company having your loyalty.

20. The other day, I was explaining why I’m going back to school now for my master’s in Economics. I believe I said, “I’ve done 8 years of participant observation, and it’s about time to start writing that paper.”

19. I was once a high school math and econ teacher…at a private… Catholic… independent… all-girls school. (To my male friends, I see your jaws dropping. Close them. Now.)

18.  I think I’m more mentally and physically exhausted on a daily basis working retail (at a certain electronics store) than by being a Marine. The Corps will definitely take the cake for the 20-mile hikes.

17. I love my recent LASIK procedure–but I do miss my glasses.

16. Back in the early 90s, MTV would broadcast this old, fascinating show called “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” I haven’t looked back since.

15. My brother and I had the Nintendo Entertainment System with the ROB for the Gyromite game. We hardly used him; he would play the scientist and I would be ROB. Sometimes I pressed the wrong button and instead shmushed the scientist.

14. I will watch visually disturbing, gory, bloody war movies any day–as long as it’s still a good movie. You shouldn’t sanitize the horrors of battle.

13. I DON’T watch horror films. Especially if they deal with Catholicism.

12. Whoever designed my Cuisinart coffeemaker with the built-in grinder needs a big bear hug from me. I HEART that machine.

11. Reading is my safety zone.

10. I’m a believer in VALUE home theater–get the best electronics you can afford at that time. It saves on upgrade costs later on.

9. I try to be as direct, forthright, and honest to everyone as much as possible. I believe brutal, blunt directness is less painful than tip-toeing around problems–then they fester into something worse.

8. I think I’ve internalized too many samurai movies, anime, and books in my psyche. (Miyamoto Musashi, anyone?)

7. I was definitely a geek in high school–which led to joining a fraternity in college to become more social and popular. Much later I realized that being socially skilled AND a geek are not mutually exclusive. Plus, if someone didn’t accept me for who I really was, then frak it! (Get it, anyone? Frak? F-R-A-K?)

6. As much as I complain about the Marine Corps when I’m in it, I know I’ll miss it when I leave.

5. I’m in better shape now than I was in my 20s.

4. I would hope my ideal relationship would be a Venn diagram with about 60%-70% overlap; plenty of shared experience but enough of my own and her own life to still develop and enjoy. (I don’t know how many women would be into playing Warhammer 40,000….)

3. Some people aspire to be wine connoisseurs. I aspire to be a BEER connoisseur.

2. When people around me discuss personal finance issues, my eyes light up. Think 1-million candlepower searchlights.

1. Ne-Yo got it all on point with “Miss Independent.”

Do it. Tell me I’m jumping on the bandwagon because:

1) I bought an OBEY shirt.

2) The shirt is a Barack Obama one, the “Yes We Did” design:

My saving graces:

1) I did vote for Obama.

2) It’s hard to publicly support a candidate when you’re in a combat zone (rules against politicizing in the military)…and you can’t wear civilian attire…and you get back home 5 days before the election.

3) I like Shepard Fairey’s work.

4) I had free cover getting into Levende yesterday. More for beer!